Triangles Nina and the Neurons

# If you've got a question and you don't know where to go

# Ask Nina for some help cos she's got a science show

# She makes sense of her senses while helping all her fans

# By doing her experiments with potions and bangs

-# Touch your tongue!

-Tongue!

-# Fingers!

-Fingers!

-# Eyes!

-Eyes!

-Ears!

-Ears!

-Nose!

-Nose!

# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to

# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know

# Luke he helps us with our eyes, Felix with our touch

# Ollie sniffs out smells and scents, Belle she hears so much

# Bud is Ollie's brother, he helps us with taste

# They're Nina's little Neurons they're coming to your place

-# Touch your tongue!

-Tongue!

-Fingers!

-Fingers!

-# Eyes!

-Eyes!

-Ears!

-Ears!

-Nose!

-Nose!

# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know

# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know

# Oh, yeah! #

-Ooh!

-GIGGLES

Come on, Nina. You can do it.

Oh, hello there.

I'm building a lovely big tower and I've only got two more cards to go.

OK, OK.

Concentrate, Nina.

Ta-da!

Oh, I am very pleased with that.

COMPUTER BLEEPS

Oh, I hear a beep, I see a flash.

I wonder what they're going to ask.

-BOTH:

-Hi, Nina.

Hi.

We've got a question for you.

Why do we see so many triangles in buildings?

Oh, that's a great question.

Why do we see so many triangles in buildings?

Engineers often use triangles in buildings and structures,

but I wonder why.

Why don't you come down to my workshop and we'll investigate?

-BOTH:

-See you soon, Nina. Bye!

Bye.

Well, I'm going to need some help to answer this one

and I know just who to ask. OK, Neurons, time to get to work.

ALL: Neurons at the ready, Nina!

OK, today's question is - why do we see so many triangles in buildings?

Now, which Neuron do you think will be most useful

in helping us find the answer?

It's Luke!

CHEERING

NEURONS CHANT

Cool, Nina. I'll be looking out to help you.

Today's question is - why do we see so many triangles in buildings?

Now, we'll be spotting lots of triangles,

so Luke will be helping us today.

But standby, Neurons, I've a feeling I may need help from all of you.

Right, I need to get the workshop ready

before the experimenters arrive.

Grace loves pizza,

Chloe loves going to the cinema,

but they both want to know why do we see so many triangles in buildings?

So, today, for one day only,

Grace and Chloe become the experimenters.

-Hi, guys.

-BOTH:

-Hi, Nina.

Welcome to my workshop and thank you for your great question,

"Why did we see so many triangles in buildings?"

Well, let's start by having a closer look at this building.

Now, what can you see?

There are lots of triangles, Nina.

You're right. So, this building is the Gherkin

and not only does it have lots of small triangles,

the small triangles make up bigger triangles.

-But why do they use triangles, Nina?

-Great question, Ollie.

Well, let's start with an experiment.

ALL: Whoop, whoop! An experiment! We're ready, Nina.

So, we each have two different shapes.

And what are they?

-A square, Nina.

-And a triangle.

That's right. We've got a square and a triangle.

So, can you lift your squares up for me? Like this.

Now, let's give it a push on one side.

Ooh!

FELIX: Hmm. The squares are a little squashed.

What's happened?

-The square is squashed.

-Yes.

By pushing the square on one side, we've managed to change its shape.

OK. Now, let's do the same thing, but with the triangles.

OK, now let's give it a push.

Oh. Hmm.

-What's happening this time?

-It didn't squash.

Ooh, interesting.

Well, let's try pushing the triangles in other directions, too.

Hmm.

LUKE: No, those triangles aren't changing.

Yes! So, when a square is pushed...

..the shape of the corners can change.

But because a triangle has three sides,

the corners can't change.

So, triangles can be pushed on any side, in any direction,

and they won't change shape.

Triangles are very strong shapes,

that's why engineers use them so often in buildings and structures.

Can we make squares stronger, Nina?

Great question, Belle.

To find out, we're going to go somewhere really amazing.

Let's go, experimenters!

Hmm, where do you think we're going today?

Nina said it was somewhere amazing.

Maybe we're going to the jungle -

that would be amazing.

Will we see some crocodiles? Snap, snap, snap!

Well, it's not the jungle, Neurons, but it does look amazing.

So, your question was why do we see so many triangles in buildings?

And, so far, we've found out that triangles are really strong shapes.

But now we want to know if we can make square shapes stronger.

So, I've brought you here to one of the world's most amazing structures,

the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

So, how would you describe the tower, experimenters?

It's very, very tall, Nina.

That's right, the Eiffel Tower is very tall

and it needs to be really strong so that it doesn't bend in the wind,

and so it's strong enough to hold up all of its weight.

Now, we know that triangles are very strong,

so let's see if there are any triangles

in the Eiffel Tower. Let's go!

Wow! This is the best tower ever!

Yes, it's very nice. But we're a little high up, Nina.

So, we've seen lots of triangles on our way up the Eiffel Tower.

Let's have a closer look at these ones here.

-Now, what do you notice about them?

-They're inside squares, Nina.

Yes, the squares have been turned into triangles,

so let's do an experiment to find out why.

These squares are just like the ones we used earlier.

But I've added something. What do you think it is?

-The middle bit.

-Yes, I've added a piece of card across the middle

to make this square into two triangles.

Before, when we pushed the squares, they changed shape easily.

So, let's see what happens if we try pushing these squares. Go for it!

Cool, the squares aren't changing this time.

What's happening?

They're not squishing.

That's right. Making the squares into triangles

means the angles at the corners can't change.

So the triangles have made the squares stronger?

Yes, they have, Ollie.

Turning a square into a triangle reinforces it, making it stronger.

-Reinforces!

-Reinforces means to make something stronger.

And this square has been reinforced even more

because there are two beams added to turn this square

into four triangles, so it's really strong.

And that's what the engineers who built the Eiffel Tower did, too.

They turned the squares in the beams into lots and lots of triangles

to make it really strong.

Why are there so many triangles?

That's a great question.

Why are there so many? I think we need to get experimenting.

Now, we can see the whole of the Eiffel Tower from here.

What shape is it?

A triangle, Nina.

Yes, it looks like a huge triangle,

but actually it's a shape we call a pyramid.

Now, we are going to make our very own mini Eiffel Towers

with some sticks and some sweets.

Sweets? Did you mention sweets, Nina?

Sorry, Bud. These sweets are for our experiment.

Now, we're going to build one tower with a few big triangles

and one tower with lots of smaller triangles.

So, are you ready, experimenters?

-BOTH:

-Yeah!

Let's get building.

LUKE: Their towers are looking great.

That's great work. We have two towers,

but one has a lot more triangles.

So, which one do you think will be stronger?

This one? Well, we need to find out.

So, we're going to add some weights to our towers, one at a time,

and we'll balance them on the towers using these discs.

Let's go.

Gently...

That's it.

Good, OK.

Oh! Fantastic, OK.

Grace, you can add another weight onto yours.

That's it, nice and gently.

Great work, experimenters. So, stop there.

So, Chloe, what happened to your tower?

-It fell down, Nina.

-Yes.

The tower with a few big triangles squashed after two weights.

Now, what about the tower with lots of small triangles?

It's still standing.

Yes, it has four weights on it, but it's not squashed at all.

The tower built with lots of smaller triangles made a stronger tower

and that's why the Eiffel Tower has so many triangles.

The more triangles you have, the stronger your building will be.

# Nina and the neurons. #

So, your question was - why do we see so many triangles in buildings?

And I think we've answered it.

BELLE: Triangles are often used in buildings and structures.

-BUD:

-Triangles are strong shapes, they can be pushed in any direction.

-FELIX:

-But because their angles can't change, they don't change shape.

OLLIE: Making squares into triangles reinforces them.

-LUKE:

-The more triangles you have, the stronger your building will be.

So, I hope that's answered your question.

-BOTH:

-Thanks, Nina. Bye!

Oh, you're welcome. Bye!

If you want to know more about the science that's all around us,

go to the Nina section of the CBeebies website. Have fun!

# Superstructures

# Superstructures

# Superstructures, superstructures, superstructures

# Some of them of tall, some of them are wide

-# They're bumpy, lumpy, wiggly, too

-Wiggly, too

# Some of them are strong

-#Some of them are small

-Like me!

# They're windy, whirly, whishy, too... #

All around.

Look over here!

# Build it, stack it, pile it up

# Come on, let's get building

# Building, building, building!

# Race it, hold it, make it stick

# Come on, let's get building

# Come on, let's get building

# Some of them are cosy warm, some of them are chilly

-# Keep us safe and hide us, too

-Hide us, too

# Some of them are just for fun or help us to stay dry

# They're underground and high up too

# Look around

# Over here

# Build it, stack it, pile it up

# Come on, let's get building

# Building, building, building

# Race it, hold it, make it stick

-# Come on, let's get building

-Ooh-ooh

# Come on, let's get building

# Nina and the Neurons! #

And remember, there are superstructures everywhere,

whether they're big or small, wide or tall, we can all get building.

See you again soon. Bye!

-ALL: Bye!

-Get building!